Egypt Set to Sell Stakes in 23 State-owned companies

Egypt just recently publicized the names of 23 Egyptian state companies the country will this year offer stakes as part of a strategy to raise about 80 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.6 billion) through minority share offerings on the Cairo bourse.

These companies includes Banque Du Caire, which is one of the country’s biggest banks, and major oil companies like Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI) and Middle East Oil Refining (MIDOR), as well as Misr Insurance Company.

The Egyptian government had said that it planned to sell shares in lots of state companies so as to increase public finances and draw more investors to the Cairo exchange, but had only acknowledged a handful of companies in the past as candidates.

In a statement publicizing the list, the country’s Finance Ministry said that the 23 companies ranging from real estate to banking and petroleum companies and the government will look to sell stakes ranging from 15 to 30 per cent in the next couple of years.

Some companies already traded on the exchange and others that will hold an Initial Public Offering (IPO), were included in the list.

Since the popular uprising in the country in 2011 that drove tourists and foreign investors away, the economy has been struggling to recover. Nevertheless, a $12 billion International Monetary Fund lending program the country signed at the end of 2016 has helped to spur growth and lure foreign investors back to the country.

The state owns massive swathes of the country’s economy, including 3 of its biggest banks, which are the Banque Du Caire, the United Bank of Egypt, National Bank of Egypt, along with much of its real estate industry.

The last time companies owned by the state were listed on the exchange was when shares of the state’s landline monopoly Telecom Egypt, and oil companies AMOC and Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals were floated in 2005.

Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals was included in the list that was announced just recently, and it will now sell another stake.